LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant is always at the top of the scouting report.

Always.

Tonight the Nuggets begin their first Western Conference finals in 24 years, and the Lakers’ star guard is their No. 1 concern. Slow him, and the Nuggets have a chance. Let him run wild, and they have no chance.

So how do the Nuggets plan to guard arguably the NBA’s best player?

Forcefully.

“I think a lot of people will have a shot at him,” Carmelo Anthony said. “But more important, we’re going to do this as a team. We don’t want to put no pressure on no one and say, ‘Go out there and stop Kobe Bryant.’ ”

Dahntay Jones, Denver’s perimeter defensive specialist, gets first crack at Bryant, who averaged 31 points against the Nuggets this season.

“Get ready for a long night,” Jones said of his plan of attack. “Just be ready to play hard and make him uncomfortable as possible and contest his shots.”

Getting discouraged if Bryant scores in bunches is a no-no, Jones said.

“People who shoot the ball a lot are going to make shots,” Jones said. “You can’t let it get to you. You’re not going to stop him from making a shot, period.”

When Denver beat the Lakers 90-79 on Feb. 27, Bryant shot only 10-of-31.

“We were physical,” Jones said. “We brought him to traps. He didn’t get many one-on-ones. It’s not easy because (Lakers coach) Phil (Jackson) does a good job of putting him in positions where you can’t trap him. And he works well in traps also. So you just have to hope for the best.”

Nuggets coach George Karl wants to replicate as much of his team’s effort on Bryant in that February win as he can. He’s just not sure anything that happened during the regular season is applicable now.

“All the games had different personalities, so I don’t know how much we can take from them,” Karl said. “We’ve looked at all the video, and game three was personality-wise how we’re going to have to play him, which is physical and aggressive, try to think about defense first and not try to outscore him. Even though it was an ugly game, it was still a spirited game for us.”

Bryant is crafty. He’s adept at surveying the situation, picking his spots and hurting the opposition anyway. The Nuggets also will try their fair share of double-teams to get the ball out of Bryant’s hands.

“We got big guys that are going to cover him, we got little guys that are going to cover him,” Karl said. “If we play big on him, they play him out front. When we play little on him, they put him underneath the basket. Pretty simple stuff.”

Said Anthony: “I don’t really think one man can guard Kobe Bryant. That’s like, quite impossible. But as a unit we’re going to have to do it. So for me to sit here and say, Dahntay is going to stop him or I’m going to stop him or somebody else is going to stop him, I’d be lying.”

And the Nuggets are going to have to pay as much attention to Bryant as they can without letting his teammates have big games. The Lakers have proven they don’t always need a big scoring night from Bryant in order to win. He scored just 14 points Sunday when the Lakers advanced to the West finals with an 89-70 victory over Houston in Game 7 of their series.

“He is a big part of their team,” Jones said. “They have a great team. He’s one portion that you have to take care of. We’re not trying to hold him to a certain number, just trying to make it uncomfortable for him.”

Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson had butterflies before Sunday's game against the Detroit Red Wings. It wasn't because of the big-name opponent, but rather his return from a 13-game injury absence and being stoked to rejoin a team in a playoff push and looking for its third postseason appearance in 10 years.